Lock assembly

ABSTRACT

A guarded lock assembly in which a guard surrounds three sides of a padlock and is attached to its shackle, the assembly having a combination rib and barrier interconnecting the sides of a guard to prevent them from being pried apart by a crowbar.

O United States Patent 1191 1111 3,828,591 Beaver [4 Aug. 13, 1974 [54]LOCK ASSEMBLY 3,590,607 7/1971 Beaver 70/56 [76] Inventor: Commodore E.Beaver, Council FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS Bluffs, Iowa 227,8841/1925 Great Britain 292/281 [22] Filed: Aug. 14, 1972 PrimaryExaminerRobert L. Wolfe [2H Appl' 280550 Attorney, Agent, or FirmHiramA. Sturges [52] US. Cl. 70/56 [51] Int. Cl E05b 67/38 [57] ABSTRACT [58]Field of Search 70/56, 55, 54, 52, 51, A guarded lock assembly in whicha guard Surrounds 70/2 1 3; 292 231 three sides of a padlock and isattached to its shackle,

V the assembly having a combination rib and barrier in- [56] ReferencesCi d terconnecting the sides of a guard to prevent them UNTED STATESPATENTS from being pried apart by a crowbar.

3,392,555 7/1968 Beaver 70/56 6 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures LOCK ASSEMBLYFIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention is in the field of padlocks havingguard means therearound for protecting the shackle from being cut bythieves. Such guards further prevent a thief from gaining easy access toa staple of a staple and hasp assembly.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART The guarded lock assembly of this inventionis an improvement over the assembly described in my own earlier US. Pat.No. 3,392,555, issued to Commodore E. Beaver, July 16, 1968, and titledPADLOCK AND GUARD ASSEMBLY.

In the earlier patent a special padlock was contemplated having a notchtherein to receive the lower edge of the guard and with the shacklewelded to the inner side of the forward side of the guard. However, withfurther research, it isfound not to be practical to weld the shackle tothe forward side of a guard because of the inaccessibility of thatportion of the shackle from the standpoint of being reached by a weldingtorch. Research further determined that the practicality of using apadlock with a special body with a notch in it for the guard led tospecial costs that carried the product beyond the reach of many users.

It is important that the guarded lock have the minor feature of weldingto a portion of the top and preferably to a portion of the forward sideof the top of a shackle where accessibility is improved. However, thisleads to a problem because a padlock that is of standard manufacture andaccessible will be found to have a shape such that a gap exists betweenthe forward wall of the guard and the center of the padlock body evenwhen the sides of the padlock body are engaged at their forward cornerswith the inner side of the guard. This gap allows a thief to insert acrowbar.

A crowbar inserted into this gap has a powerful effect because thecrowbar tip can be inserted even beyond the lock body and up into anarea alongside of the shackle and very close to the weld of shackle toguard. A long crowbar produces a tremendous leverage whereby it ispossible to first bend, and then tear the guard so that the thief cangain access to the shackle to saw it in two.

It is important that a solution be provided to the problem becausecontractors tools and other valuables are often stored out onconstruction sites and far from possible surveillance by police orcompany personnel.

It is further important that the staple of a staple and hasp assembly beprotected as much as possible from access thereto by burglars tools.

In my earlier patent provision for this was provided by causing thepadlock body to have means thereon extending under the hasp to prevent asaw blade from being passed upward alongside the padlock body at theforward side of the padlock body to reach the staple. However. the costof placing such special addition onto a padlock body is excessive. Thecost of manufacturing a padlock body of such a shape in the first placeis even more excessive.

It is important that there be a solution to further protect the staplefrom access thereto by a tool reaching the staple from the underside andwithout these excessive costs.

It is important further that a burglar be prevented from inserting acrowbar as deeply into the space between lock body and guard as has beenheretofore possible.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A guarded lock assembly in which a guardsurrounds the right, left, and backsides of a padlock and also the upperside thereof, the inner side of the guard being attached to the shackle,the assembly having a combination rib and barrier interconnecting thesides of the guard to prevent them from being pried apart by a crowbar,the barrier being disposed in a position closely adjacent to the upperside of the padlock body for limiting the depth to which a crowbar canbe inserted into the guard from underneath the guard, the rib having anopening therethrough receiving the rearward vertical portion of theshackle for further stabilizing the rib, the body of the padlockprotruding outwardly from the forward side of the guard so as to extendbeneath a hasp and staple assembly at a time in which the inner side ofthe staple is in engagement with the forward vertical portion of thepadlock shackle so as to place the padlock body in a position forinterfering with and blocking the insertion of a saw upwardly frombeneath the padlock body for sawing the staple, the weld point of theshackle to the guard being mostly forwardly of the forward-to-rearwardcenter of the shackle for access by a welder, the rib having forwardlyextending protrusions at its right and left sides for receiving weldingfor the attachment of the rib to the guard whereby the forward side ofthe rib is concave so that the weldings are as far forward as desirableconsistent with providing room for the reception of such staple aroundthe shackle with sufficient room to permit the staple to pass by the ribin the process of the placing of the shackle on a staple, this positionof the weldings of the rib to the guard being sufficiently accessible asto make possible good weldings by welders who are of lesser skill, orwho are more careless, or who have an unsteady hand that shakes whenwelding, or who are not capable of high concentration that skilledwelding requires for making possible the lesser production cost.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a sectional view taken alongthe line 1-1 of FIG. 3 or 1-1 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 2 is a detail of the barrier rib of this invention as seen in topplan view.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 5, with adotted line indicating the position of the door not shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 4 is a side elevation of the padlock and guard assembly of thisinvention shown with the hasp in engagement therewith as it would beseen from the left in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a rear elevation of the padlock and guard assembly as it wouldbe seen from the left in FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The guarded lock assembly ofthis invention is generally indicated at in FIG. 1 and forms a part of aguarded lock and hasp and staple assembly generally indicated at 12 inFIG. 1.

The guarded hasp, lock and staple assembly of this invention is for thepurpose of padlocking a staple which extends through a slot 36 of a hasp40 in a usual manner and transversely to the hasp 40.

The guarded lock assembly has a guard which surrounds the right, leftand back sides 52, 54, and 56 of a padlock 60 and also surrounds theupper side of the padlock 60 with the top portion 62 of the guard 50,guard 50 having right, left, and back sides 63, 64, and 65.

The padlock 60 has a body 66 and a shackle 68.

The guard 50 has a continuous U-shaped forward edge 72 and has a meansof attachment to the shackle 68 in the form of welding which is disposedon the forward side of the top of the shackle 68 forwardly of aforward-to-rearward center of the shackle. A

welding at this place provides ready accessibility to welding equipmentso that a strong weld can be made. Such a weld can be made by an amateurbecause of the accessibility of welding at this position.

The guarded lock assembly 10 has a combination rib and barrierinterconnecting the sides 52 and 54 of the guard to prevent them frombeing pried apart by a crowbar. The barrier 100 is disposed in aposition closely adjacent to the upper side 106 of the padlock body 66for limiting the depth to which a crowbar can be inserted into a space112 between the guard 50 and the adjacent outer surface 122, best seenin FIG. 1 of the padlock body 66.

The rib 100 has an opening 132 therethrough receiving the rearwardvertical portion of the shackle 68. Forwardly projecting portions 172 ofthe barrier rib 100, which latter project forwardly from the right andleft hand sides of the barrier rib 100 receive the weldings and providerib areas readily accessible to a welder for the use of welders oflimited ability. Such a construction causes the forwardmost edge 175 ofthe barrier 100 to be somewhat concave for disposing the welding 150opposite portions of the guard sides and 63 and 64 which are straightrather than curved. Welding to the straight side portions is preferredbecause the metal in such places is stronger because it has not beendrawn in the process of manufacture to make it curved, such strong metalbeing inherently weaker.

I claim:

1. A guarded lock assembly comprising: a lock body and shackle assembly,having a lock body separate from a shackle, said shackle disposed abovesaid body and having a forward anchor section and a rearward anchorsection disposed in approximate parallelism and spaced apart asubstantial distance and a connecting section interconnecting upper endsof said anchor sections, said connecting section having a first portionattached to said forward anchor section and adapted to be received in astaple, said connecting section having a second portion attached to saidrearward anchor section, said body slidably receiving lower portions ofsaid anchor sections for upward and downward sliding movements thereofsufficient that said forward anchor section lower portion moves in andout of said body, said body having holding means therein adapted toengage and hold at least one of said anchor section lower portions whensaid lock body and shackle assembly is locked with said lower portionsof said anchor sections therein to prevent said sliding of said anchorsections and adapted to release said one anchor section at times whensaid holding means is in an unlocking position for not holding said oneanchor section, a guard having a lower end adjacent said body, meansattaching said guard to said shackle, said guard having an upper end andcovering the upper side of said shackle, said guard having rearward andright and left sides substantially covering the adjacent sides of thoseparts of said shackle which remain outside of said body at times whensaid lock assembly is locked, said guard having a notch therein on theforward side thereof for receiving means to be locked, said notchsurrounding and receiving a portion of said forward section of saidshackle so that said means to be locked can be received in said notcharound said forward shackle section, said notch opening toward the bodyend of said guard to permit passage therethrough of a part of a means tobe locked, said body having forward, rearward, and right and left sides,said guard surrounding said body on portions of said rearward and rightand left sides thereof, and a barrier rib extending from the inner sideof the right side of said guard to the inner side of the left side ofsaid guard, said rib being secured to said inner sides of said right andleft sides of said guard whereby a thief inserting a, crowbar betweensaid body and said guard will find his attempt to spread the sides ofsaid guard apart in order to gain access to said shackle to be resistedby said rib.

2. The lock assembly of claim 1 in which said rib has an openingtherethrough receiving said rearward anchor section of said shackle soas to resist an effort of a thief to move said rib with respect to saidrearward anchor section of said shackle.

3. The combination of claim I in which said means connecting said rib tosaid guard portions comprises weldings.

4. The locking assembly of claim 3 in which said weldings are disposedon the forward side of said rib.

5. The locking assembly of claim 4 in which said rib has forwardlyprojecting portions on its right and left hand sides for receivingwelding and for providing rib areas more accessible to a welder.

6. The combination of claim 1 in which said body portion extendsforwardly of the forward edges of said guard and in further combinationwith a hasp and staple assembly having its hasp resting on the upperside of said body at times when said staple is received on said forwardportion of said shackle in a position such that said concave inner sideof said shackle engages said shackle.

1. A guarded lock assembly comprising: a lock body and shackle assembly,having a lock body separate from a shackle, said shackle disposed abovesaid body and having a forward anchor section and a rearward anchorsection disposed in approximate parallelism and spaced apart asubstantial distance and a connecting section interconnecting upper endsof said anchor sections, said connecting section having a first portionattached to said forward anchor section and adapted to be received in astaple, said connecting section having a second portion attached to saidrearward anchor section, said body slidably receiving lower portions ofsaid anchor sections for upward and downward sliding movements thereofsufficient that said forward anchor section lower portion moves in andout of said body, said body having holding means therein adapted toengage and hold at least one of said anchor section lower portions whensaid lock body and shackle assembly is locked with said lower portionsof said anchor sections therein to prevent said sliding of said anchorsections and adapted to release said one anchor section at times whensaid holding means is in an unlocking position for not holding said oneanchor section, a guard having a lower end adjacent said body, meansattaching said guard to said shackle, said guard having an upper end andcovering the upper side of said shackle, said guard having rearward andright and left sides substantially covering the adjacent sides of thoseparts of said shackle which remain outside of said body at times whensaid lock assembly is locked, said guard having a notch therein on theforward side thereof for receiving means to be locked, said notchsurrounding and receiving a portion of said forward section of saidshackle so that said means to be locked can be received in said notcharound said forward shackle section, said notch opening toward the bodyend of said guard to permit passage therethrough of a part of a means tobe locked, said body having forward, rearward, and right and left sides,said guard surrounding said body on portions of said rearward and rightand left sides thereof, and a barrier rib extending from the inner sideof the right side of said guard to the inner side of the left side ofsaid guard, said rib being secured to said inner sides of said right andleft sides of said guard whereby a thief inserting a crowbar betweensaid body and said guard will find his attempt to spread the sides ofsaid guard apart in order to gain access to said shackle to be resistedby said rib.
 2. The lock assembly of claim 1 in which said rib has anopening therethrough receiving said rearward anchor section of saidshackle so as to resist an effort of a thief to move said rib withrespect to said rearward anchor section of said shackle.
 3. Thecombination of claim 1 in which said means connecting said rib to saIdguard portions comprises weldings.
 4. The locking assembly of claim 3 inwhich said weldings are disposed on the forward side of said rib.
 5. Thelocking assembly of claim 4 in which said rib has forwardly projectingportions on its right and left hand sides for receiving welding and forproviding rib areas more accessible to a welder.
 6. The combination ofclaim 1 in which said body portion extends forwardly of the forwardedges of said guard and in further combination with a hasp and stapleassembly having its hasp resting on the upper side of said body at timeswhen said staple is received on said forward portion of said shackle ina position such that said concave inner side of said shackle engagessaid shackle.